Gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for vehicles are important to our economy. They provide the fuel that is used in combustion engines that enables many forms of modern transportation.
Gasoline is delivered to consumers through a fuel dispensing station, otherwise known as a gas station. When gas is needed, a consumer drives his car to the gas station and uses one of the pumps to fill his car with gas. The fuel that is dispensed at a gas station may be delivered to the gas station by tanker trucks. These tanker trucks may be filled with the fuel at a distribution center where storage tanks may store the fuel that is delivered from refineries. The fuel that is delivered to the distribution centers may come from a refinery by way of pipeline or ship. While this example is illustratively directed to gasoline, the filling station may also pump diesel, ethanol fuels, biofuels, or other types of fuel into vehicles.
Gas stations have been around for a long time as an accepted part of our economy. Their success has been based in part on their ability to adapt to the changes placed upon them by the modern economy. For example, in geographies experiencing population growth, the gas industry has responded by opening up new gas stations to service the growing population. As another example, when gas stations have been challenged by the environmentalists, the gas industry has responded by designing gas stations that are more environmentally friendly and aesthetic.
Still, as population continues to grow and the balance that exists between gas stations and the environment grows more tense, there is a need for an improved system and method for dispensing fuel that relaxes that tension. One that will reduce the glut of gas stations, reduce the queau time for consumers at fuel dispensing machines, bring fuel dispensing more into harmony with the environment, and provide an overall more efficient and environmentally friendly solution. This disclosure addresses that need.